Out Front the Following Sea by Leah Angstman

 

Name of Book: Out Fron the Following Sea

Author: Leah Angstman

ISBN: 9781646031948

Publisher: Regal House Publishing

Type of book: New England, pariah, religion, Native Americans, outcast, leadership, British vs French, witchery, 1680s, ship, travel, marks, brands, marriage, relationship, sin, church, community, bible, 

Year it was published: 2022

Summary:

Out Front the Following Sea is a historical epic of one woman’s survival in a time when the wilderness is still wild, heresy is publicly punishable, and being independent is worse than scorned — it is a death sentence. At the onset of King William’s War between French and English settlers in 1689 New England, Ruth Miner is accused of witchcraft for the murder of her parents and must flee the brutality of her town. She stows away on the ship of the only other person who knows her innocence: an audacious sailor — Owen — bound to her by years of attraction, friendship, and shared secrets. But when Owen’s French ancestry finds him at odds with a violent English commander, the turmoil becomes life-or-death for the sailor, the headstrong Ruth, and the cast of Quakers, Pequot Indians, soldiers, highwaymen, and townsfolk dragged into the fray. Now Ruth must choose between sending Owen to the gallows or keeping her own neck from the noose.

Steeped in historical events and culminating in a little-known war on pre-American soil, Out Front the Following Sea is a story of early feminism, misogyny, arbitrary rulings, and the treatment of outcasts, with parallels still mirrored and echoed in today’s society.

Taken from Author's Website

Characters:

Main characters include Ruth Miner, a town outcast who has a sick grandmother. She is an orphan  and must struggle alone to live in a town that hates her guts. She is courageous, hasty, highly intelligent and resourceful. She is not a fan of religion and yes I saw myself in her a lot. She also is independent and doesn't need help. Owen Townsend is her only friend and often follows her wishes and also gets her books. He is intelligent, very devoted to the ship as well as his father and is half French and half English and can speak French tongue, which he teaches Ruth. He cares for Ruth very deeply.  Samuel is Ruth's possible suitor and is complete anathema to Owen. He is powerful, sees everything as black and white, bad and good, and cannot stand Ruth's intellect and threatens to burn her books. There are plenty of secondary characters, but it will be more fun to discover them. 

Theme:

There is a lot we don't know and don't learn 

Plot:

The story is in third person narrative from Ruth's and Owens points of views. I think the first thing that stunned me about the story is the research that the author has done; she provides a variety of maps right at the start of the story, one of them being a map for a boat from 1670s. I also was shocked by the medical treatment as well as what people endure while living there and their treatment and views of sinners, women, Native Americans and slaves and views even if you are Quaker or from France. Seriously, the dominance isn't black and white but is grey.  

Author Information:
(From goodreads)

Leah Angstman is a historian, transplanted Michigander, and editor-in-chief of Alternating Current Press and The Coil magazine. Her debut historical novel, OUT FRONT THE FOLLOWING SEA, is forthcoming from Regal House Publishing in spring 2022, and her writing can be found in Publishers Weekly, Pacific Standard, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Nashville Review, and elsewhere. You can find her at leahangstman.com and on social media as @leahangstman.

Opinion:

Wow, this is a very ambitious novel that not only dares to be true to time, but also dares to present the ugly parts of colonial times that are too often either glossed over or are broadly hinted at. The author literally pulls out all stops in writing about the time period. Her research is shocking yet the characters are all too human. I also loved the female protagonist and could truly relate to her a lot more than I thought I would. The descriptions are majestic, and no it's not a light read because the vocabulary is challenging. Yet I loved it. It's both a sweet romance tale but the times are ugly, unfortunately. A truly delectable and worthwhile as well as a challenging read. 

This was given for review 

5 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)